Flimsy Papers
by isumi 'kivic
Summary: AU -ZE- settings. They're tightly tied to a world different from what most humans know. Chained down by something as flimsy as a paper, they had no desire to break off. A small world of kotodama masters and kamisama, of malicious power and pain. TezuFuji


Title: Flimsy Papers

Author: isumi'kivic' and Ilde :3

Pairings: Perfect Pair, because whatever shape they came up in, I can never fall out of love with them. 3 OishiEiji, SanaYuki, InuiKaidou for this chapter. Standar pairings are standard. :3

Warning: This fic is set in an AU universe, which means not only they are older, they're also not obsessed to tennis. -is bricked- OOC-ness is a granted thing, and if you haven't read the pairings I ship, yes, this fic is mainly BL/yaoi/shounen-ai whatever you want to call it. :| Depending on the plots, rating may go up, but for now, it's T for you. XD Un-beta-ed, beware of grammar errors.

Disclaimer: Tennis no Oujisama and its property belongs to Konomi Takeshi, while -ZE- and its property belongs to Yuki Shimizu. I don't own them, nor do I make any profit out of this. Besides, TeFu owns each other. xD

A/N: Sooo yeah. This is somewhat a crossover. The setting comes out of the manga -ZE-, a BL manga by Yuki Shimizu, which I found quite interesting. I might make some changes here and there to suit the Tenipuri's characters and all, but mainly it's the same; the kotodama-sama and kamisama and puppeteer and all. If you haven't read -ZE-, please do not worry since I'm going to explain it little by little in the story anyway. :3

Well then, please enjoooooy!

_A Tennis no Oujisama xover -ZE- fanfiction_

**Flimsy Papers**

_Chapter 1: Kotodama Masters and Kamisama_

He couldn't really remember when the last time he woke up to the sun rays sneaking into his room; falling over his eyes and pulling him out of his dreams. Neither could he remember the last time he was woken up by the chirping birds outside his windows, despite the fact that his room in the Kawamura resident faced the small, well-kept inner garden.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd woken up after dawn, either.

"It's time to wake up, Kunimitsu."

The first thing he'd automatically search around for when his eyes fluttered open was the honey-haired figure who was supposed to always be by his side. Their nightly activities would usually leave little time for them to talk long into the night, and his fair companion should be laying down next to him with Tezuka's arm draped possessively over the slender waist; preventing him to move out of the bed without waking him up.

At the age of twenty-five, Tezuka Kunimitsu wondered sometimes why was it that he still had the raging hormones of a teenager when it came to his companion.

This morning, though, his eyes found Shuusuke standing in front of the windows—curtains all drawn up—a thin blanket covering his shoulders down to his ankles, as he stared into the darkness outside. A quick glance at the alarm clock told Tezuka that it was barely four in the morning—exactly the usual time Shuusuke would rouse him up from sleep. He slowly sat up, rustling the covers even further as Shuusuke turned to look at him and smiled.

"Good morning," a faint tone of tease was still there, lacing Shuusuke's voice; perhaps what was left from last night. Tezuka grunted in reply, mind still hazy from sleep. It didn't stop him from getting out of bed, uncaring of his own stark nakedness as he closed the gap between him and Shuusuke in several long steps, drawing the smaller man into his strong arms. Fuji hummed slightly, tilting his head up as cerulean eyes glinted at him.

"Can't do, Kunimitsu. He's coming today, isn't he?"

He remembered, of course. Nobody would expect less than perfection from one Tezuka Kunimitsu—one of the most powerful kotodama masters in the whole Japan, the CEO of Atobe Enterprise, the one trusted right by Atobe's own order. The owner of the company itself, of course, knew full well of his kotodama business, despite the fact that he wasn't directly linked to the almost-spiritual world.

"Let's go, then."

He took Shuusuke's hand, letting the blanket that was covering his body fell off before pulling him into a chaste morning kiss—the burning sensation on his lips yearning for more, but he knew when to quell his own desires. Shuusuke would not let him, anyway. Now was not the time. Now, as he'd always done every morning, was time to take a purification bath before going for a morning jog. By the time he went back, showered and got ready, the new member would have come.

Kawamura wouldn't start without him, so he couldn't afford to be late.

-o0o-

It was around seven o'clock when Oshitari dropped by. Following him was a young man who couldn't have been older than 22 years old; who still had boyish gestures as he stepped into the main meeting room of the traditional Japanese house Kawamura owned and greeted everyone with a small nod and a muttered, "Morning."

"Ah!" Eiji exclaimed then, excited. "You're younger than us, nya! What a surprise!"

"He'll be joining you from now on." Oshitari said with a business-like tone, looking at the owner of the house who sat between Shuuichiro and Kaoru with a soft smile on his face. "Kawamura-san, he'll need a kamisama before he can get to work. How long would it take you to make one for him?"

"Two weeks will be enough, given that nobody here needs maintenance," Kawamura Takeshi laughed albeit a bit sheepishly, gesturing to the eight other people in the room aside from him, Oshitari and the new guy. "Has Atobe told him the job description? Or will you leave that to us again?"

"You'll do better than us explaining about this thing." The Kansai man spared his wrist watch a glance. "I have to get going quick. I'll leave him to you, then." He bowed slightly, turned around even before Kawamura began to reply, and smoothly strode out of the room.

There was a collective thoughtful hum as soon as the shoji door was closed behind Oshitari—coming from Shuusuke, Inui, Eiji and Yukimura. Tezuka couldn't blame the new guy when he took a step back subconsciously, perhaps sensing that his life would never be the same again after the thoughtful hum greeted his ears. Lucky for him, Kawamura decided to spare him the early suffering. "What's your name?"

Warily, the new guy looked up. "Echizen," he said. "Echizen Ryouma."

"No way!" again, it was Eiji who beat everyone to the surprise. "Echizen? As in, that legendary Echizen? The Samurai Echizen Nanjirou, Japan's number one kotodama master who went missing five years ago?"

"That's my old man." Echizen scowled. "I'll be stronger than he was."

"That's a good enough determination to start," Yukimura observed from where he was sitting, leaning on Genichirou's shoulder and looking as if he could fall asleep anytime. The taller man shifted, trying to accommodate the blue-haired man leaning on him better, and was rewarded by a small smile blossoming on Yukimura's lips. Kawamura coughed then, drawing Echizen's curious attention back to him.

"Now, Echizen, do you understand what kind of work you're going to face? What power it is that you hold?"

An uncomfortable look flitted across the youngest man in the room. "Not much," he admitted, albeit a little sulkily. "Stupid Old Man never told me what kind of power we have and what's the use. All I know is that people like us are called kotodama masters, that we need to have a Kami in order to use it safely, and that everyone here is hired by the monkey to help his business using that kotodama power."

For someone who had little to no idea what kind of life he'd lead under Atobe's hands, Echizen did look unconcerned about it, and Tezuka knew it was a sign of his strength. He was one of the earliest kotodama masters who came to live under Kawamura's roof, and since then he had seen other kotodama masters and their various reactions upon setting foot into the household. Eiji had been noticeably fidgety, while Yukimura took everything in nearly impassively. Inui hid his anxiety by scribbling endlessly on his notebook as Kawamura explained. Tezuka himself had dealt with it just by clenching his fist and struggled to keep his expression stoic. But Echizen was different. The atmosphere enveloping him wasn't that of an acceptance, but one of challenge.

A snicker came from his side, and Tezuka's hazel eyes moved to follow his Kami's figure. Shuusuke had risen to his feet, fixing his eyes on Echizen as he closed their distance, eyes narrowed and smile widening as if he was examining a fine, rare specimen—really, Tezuka couldn't blame Echizen for taking another step back.

"Did you just call Atobe 'monkey'?" there was a faint amusement hiding beneath Shuusuke's voice. Echizen backed away another step, but Fuji's arm was faster. In one smooth movement, he'd seized Echizen's shoulders, pulling him closer as a mischievous broad smile broke off his face.

"Why, I think we'll be great friends, Echizen," the Kami announced cheekily.

But Echizen's unruffled demeanor had been thrown off-balance—annoyance and recklessness beginning to take over his mind—and Tezuka barely felt the ominous aura emanating from the younger man before Echizen yelled, "Hey! **Release me**!"

There was no time to react.

A blaze of wind tore the room without warning—Eiji let out a high-pitched squeak—clearly targeting Shuusuke; and instinctively Tezuka leapt up, barely in time to throw himself on its way, shielding Shuusuke from the invisible blade. It blasted down on him, wrecking his shirt and slashing his skin; thick, red fluids seeping into his clothes, while the malicious energy seeped into him and tore him inside out. He hacked out blood, knees wobbling as he struggled to stand up in vain, until a pair of slender yet strong arms wound around his torso, holding him up, and the pleasant scent of lavender filled his nostrils.

Behind him, he heard Echizen's own yelp of pain.

"Mitsu, you idiot!" a harsh berating graced his ears, in contrast of the gentle arms holding him up, making him slightly wince. "Look at me, Mitsu!"

"I'm fine," he gritted out, purposefully keeping his face down even though Shuusuke's hand was trying to tilt it up. "It's nothing, Shuusuke—"

Shuusuke made a frustrated noise on the back of his throat, pulled his kotodama master closer and bent his head low, and forcefully kissed him square on the mouth. Wrenching open the stoic man's lower lip not-so-gently, he let his tongue ran inside the other's mouth, battling against Tezuka's unwilling tongue that tried to push him out. Silently, Tezuka cursed the Echizen's unexpectedly remarkable kotodama ability—injuring him to this extent that he didn't have much energy to push Fuji away.

That, and Fuji's damn talented tongue.

Another sound of wind rush buzzed in the room, pooling around the kissing figures, and in seconds, invisible blades torn up Fuji's clothing, marring his shoulders, arms, chest and face. The honey-haired Kami let out a small gasp, and Tezuka took the chance to wrench his mouth off Fuji's, and gave him a glare.

Fuji merely sighed, a small winning smirk curving up his face as he rested his forehead on Tezuka's shoulder, catching his breath.

Behind him, Echizen stuttered in disbelief.

Sighing, Tezuka did a double-check on himself—his pain gone, no more blood except what's seeped into his clothes—and as usual, no traces of scars. Fuji's healing ability was indeed amazing. A slight frown was etched on his stoic face as he took in Fuji's torn appearance; no blood, granted, but there were scars scissoring other scars marring the porcelain skin.

"Kawamura," Tezuka said, looking up. "I will need some more healing cream for Fuji." A pause, and he added, "and Echizen."

"Of course," still smiling and looking slightly red on the face—really, Tezuka couldn't understand how someone of a heart so kind, innocent and pure as Kawamura took to be a puppeteer—the brown-haired man rose to his feet. "I'll leave the explanation to you, then, while I get Sakuno-chan as well." And with that, he disappeared behind the shouji door.

There was an odd silence reigning the room, as if waiting for a bomb to be dropped, until Echizen's trembling voice came up, "Wh-what—how…?"

"That was reckless." Yukimura commented airily, not even bothering to remove his head from Genichirou's shoulder. "And Echizen-kun, your arm is bleeding."

"I know that!" Echizen snapped, clearly losing his calm, having stepped into a situation he didn't expect at all. "I mean—that—"

"It's your power," Tezuka cut him off. "A kotodama is an ability to put power into your words. Malicious power—which is why you should always be careful of what comes off your mouth." His tone darkening on the last part of his sentence, Tezuka turned to face the younger man. "You used kotodama when you ordered Fuji to release you."

"Are you okay, nya?" Eiji bounced over, looking curiously at Echizen's injured arm. "Waaah, it looks painful. You really should be careful since you don't have a Kami yet, so no one could heal you straight away like what Shuusuke did to Tezuka. See here," he gestured to the bloodied arm, "when we use kotodama, it takes toll on us. The price of hurting someone else is to be hurt ourselves."

Realization dawned on Echizen's face. "So a Kami is—"

"Made from 100% natural paper pulp." Inui said, his glasses glinting. "They exist to protect their kotodama masters, taking all the injuries and disasters that come as the result of using kotodama. Putting it easily, using kotodama means betting our lives—especially in our line of… business that Atobe required from us." He gestured to Shuusuke once, and Echizen's eyes obediently followed. "Because they're made of papers, they don't bleed and can be fixed quite easily by the puppeteer. Taka-san's one of the puppeteers here in Japan, and all the Kamisama who live here are made by him."

Shuuichiro rose to his feet, concern apparent on his face. "We should at least stop your bleeding first. Eiji, would you mind?"

An uncomfortable look flitted across Eiji's face. "Do you have to, nyaaa?" he whined, clearly not pleased. But Shuuichiro gave him a pointed look, and Eiji sighed.

"Alright." He said, quietly sulking. "But no kiss!"

"I wouldn't think of it," Shuuichiro replied with a small laugh, before turning to Echizen. "Now, could you lend me your tongue, please?"

"What?" the younger man was baffled. "Why would I—"

But Shuuichiro's hand shot up out of nowhere, pulling him closer—a hand wrenching his jaws open and two fingers pulled out his tongue. Echizen yelped; half in surprise and half in pain, but then a buzzing sound echoed around them, and the pain in his arm dissipated.

"Now, that's more like it." Shuuchiro released him, looking satisfied with his work. "I'm sorry I can't do more to heal you. I'm Eiji's after all."

Blinking rapidly, feeling totally lost for the first time in his life, Echizen look down on his arm, only to find his bleeding had stopped. There was a long gash on it still, and his clothes was still bloody from all the blood seeping in, but otherwise, the pain and the bleeding had completely stopped. "You—healed me?"

"That's what we do," Shuusuke's voice came, sounding steadier. He still hadn't moved—forehead still resting on Tezuka's shoulder as the kotodama master shifted to get a good look at Echizen. "We heal people. There are two ways of doing it for the kotodama users. One is by a kotodama spell, and the other—"

"—is by exchanging bodily fluids," Inui finished the sentence, a slow grin appearing on his face. "Which, I believe, was more than necessarily shown to you by Tezuka and Shuusuke's action, and by how Shuuichiro healed you just now."

"I won't lend Shuuichiro anymore, nya, so you need to be careful until Kawamura made you a Kami!" Eiji pointed out, pouting slightly.

The shoji door slipped open again, revealing an amused-looking Kawamura standing on the hallway. Behind him, stood a young girl dressed in a modest yukata with two long braids swinging behind her, smiling shyly at the occupants of the room. Shuuichiro pats Echizen on the back, ushering him to quickly leave with the girl so he could get his arm treated, while Kawamura stepped in to put a small, round, black cream jug into Tezuka's hand, biding Echizen off with a promise that he'll do his best to make a Kami for him fast.

Once the youngest, newest member of the household left with Sakuno in tow, Kawamura turned towards the others. "So?"

Yukimura shuffled, finally taking his head off Genichirou's shoulder. "He took it pretty well, it seems. That was one unnecessary incident—though it'll give us a glimpse of his talent." He eyed Tezuka curiously. "How was it, Tezuka?"

"Unexpected," Tezuka answered, putting a hand on his Kami's shoulder as Shuusuke lifted his head. "It was powerful, for such a simple spell."

"As expected of the name Echizen, I suppose," Yukimura nodded. "I'll bet Atobe's satisfied with his finding. And I'm glad, to be honest—this means our workload will be easier."

"We can't depend on him yet. He still needs a proper training and a good Kamisama," Tezuka pointed out, voice firm and steady. "More importantly, we still have a mission for today. Yukimura, Inui. You are going together today."

There were rustling sounds as both Yukimura and Inui stood up, followed by their own respective Kamisama. The two pairs made their way out of the room as Kawamura led them, instructing the jobs they had to do today; what Atobe wanted and what they needed to accomplish. Eiji made a faint noise of disappointment, before announcing that he would go get some more breakfast, and the energetic man bounced outside. Shuuichiro threw both Tezuka and Shuusuke a sheepish smile, and then he was off chasing his kotodama master, leaving the last two figures in the room alone.

Shuusuke smiled, albeit a bit strained, as he turned to his kotodama master. "What did you think you were doing, Mitsu?" Cerulean eyes flew open, narrowing as his voice took a dangerous edge and his smile turned into a warning smile. "You could have died. What an idiot."

Tezuka's hand rose to massage his forehead lightly. "Shuusuke—"

"Kami doesn't bleed. Taka-san could easily reattach any part of our body that gets torn off. On the other hand," anger flashed clearly in the piercing cerulean orbs, boring into Tezuka's hazel ones intensely. "You are human. You could die when you lost too much blood—especially when you refused to be healed. What kind of idiotic—"

"It was a small injury, there was no need for you to heal me."

"You always say that, Mitsu." A frustrated tone slipped into Shuusuke's voice. "I'm a Kami, it's my job to heal and protect you. Whenever are you going to get that into your head?"

"I'm not going to risk losing you over my injuries." Hazel eyes clashed with cerulean ones this time, fierce and determined. A terse silence fell between the kotodama master and his Kami, stretching into an invisible battle unspoken between them, until Shuusuke unwillingly tore his gaze away, and Tezuka visibly relaxed.

"Eiji hasn't been getting a mission since that accident." The Kami said quietly.

"It's going to be some time before Atobe can trust him with a mission again," Tezuka responded, his calm and controlled tone betraying the way he gripped the cream jug in his hand tightly.

"You're saying it's better to wait." A statement, not a question. And Tezuka nodded. Shuusuke laughed then, a bitter tone adorning his voice. "Funny. It makes it sound like you're all dolls—and us Kamisama are the dolls' toys."

"It's not like that."

"I know." Cerulean eyes hiding under crinkled eyes and a mask of smile, Shuusuke turned to Tezuka, head gesturing to the cream jug held in his kotodama master's hand. "Let's go, then. You're going to help me with that, won't you, Kunimitsu?"

There was no place to refuse. Not that Tezuka wanted to. Even when he had no idea that that morning was a beginning of a whole new story in their lives.

-o0ochapter one finitoo0o-

A/N: Reviews are loved, and construtive criticisms are very much appreciated. Any questions regarding the setting? Fire away! xDDD


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